The Divine Comedy

Dante Alighieri, c. 1320Translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1867)

Dante’s poem of his journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, guided first by the Roman poet Virgil and then by Beatrice; in Longfellow’s line-for-line translation.

Start reading100 cantos, about 111,000 words

Famous lines

Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.
Inferno, Canto IIn context
- Life & Death
Of those things only should one be afraid
Which have the power of doing others harm;
Of the rest, no; because they are not fearful.
Inferno, Canto IIIn context
- Fear
And after it there came so long a train
Of people, that I ne’er would have believed
That ever Death so many had undone.
Inferno, Canto IIIIn context
- Life & Death
There is no greater sorrow
Than to be mindful of the happy time
In misery.
Inferno, Canto V, lines 121-123, in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s translation (1867)In context
- Life & Death
The Love which moves the sun and the other stars.
Paradiso, Canto XXXIIIIn context
- God
- Love

The Divine Comedy

Famous lines

Contents

Inferno

Purgatorio

Paradiso